Homemade Whole Wheat Bread

Have you ever looked at the ingredients on the bag of bread you buy from the store? I’ve counted them! There’s 20-30 ingredients in the recipe, and a lot of them are unhealthy chemicals and preservatives! There’s no way a bread that’s good for you would use that many ingredients. I try my best to make bread on a regular basis, whether in the oven (which I prefer), or in the bread machine (when I want something easier). Here’s a recipe and some great tips that I got from Homestead Revival.

Whole Wheat Bread2 C. warm water (110 – 115 degrees)

1/3 C. olive oil

1/4 C. honey (I like to use raw honey)

1 egg

3 1/2 tsp. yeast

5-6 C. whole wheat flour

2 tsp. sea salt

Tip: bring all ingredients to room temperature so that a cold ingredient doesn’t deactivate your yeast. It’s sometimes hard to remember this ahead of time, but the only thing I have from these ingredients that’s normally cold is the egg. Yesterday I got one fresh from the chicken house – the perfect temp.! ~I would love to have a mixer someday with a dough hook – but I don’t right now, so I did this by hand, using two separate bowls for the dry and wet ingredients. It turned out well! Combine water, oil, honey, and egg in mixing bowl.

Tip: measure your oil first and then honey using the same measuring cup. This will help the honey come out easily and completely. Look how easy this honey came out!

Addthe yeast to the liquid.

Stir together salt and flour. This time I used almost 4 cups of whole wheat flour, and 2 cups of unbleached bread flour. I only added the salt to 5 cups of flour, and added the sixth cup as needed.

Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients.

Tip: if your mixing bowl is stainless steel and the temperature in your room is causing the bowl to be very cold, either heat the bowl with warm water before beginning, or be sure that your water is right at 115 degrees because the cold bowl can bring down the temperature.

On the sixth cup, add only as needed. Add just a bit more flour here and there until the dough leaves the side of the bowl as you stir.

Tip: several factors will determine how much flour you must add at this point. Try not to add any more than necessary as it will make your bread heavy. It should be a bit sticky, but not so sticky as to leave dough on your hands when you touch it. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover it with a dishtowel and put it somewhere warm. (In the oven but not on unless you have a gas stove and use only the pilot light, or if your oven has a special feature for rising bread. You also can use the top of the fridge, I just placed mine in the oven and shut the door.)After the bread has doubled in size – 45 min. to an hour, punch down. Knead dough for minutes.

Cut the bread in half

Roll out each half

Start on the narrow end and roll dough tightly, to keep it from growing longer than the loaf pan. (I forgot to take a picture of this!)

Place into loaf pans and brush with melted butter.

Bake 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Cool for 10 min. in pans and turn out on a cooling rack. Loosen the sides with a knife before turning out. If you want to use this for sandwiches, don’t cut until completely cooled. I kept one of the loaves intact until completely cooled….

…but the second one had no hopes of it. My family always devours at least one loaf while warm. There’s nothing like hot, fresh, homemade bread with butter!

DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical professional. This post is for educational purposes only. The information has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease.
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Comments

I have been trying to make my own bread- for those exact reasons you listed. I tried a “1 hour bread” and an “Amish bread recipe” and both didn’t work out too well- didn’t bake through, too heavy, etc. So I am definitely trying this!

My daughter went to her dads over the Christmas break and we had about a 1/3 of a loaf of the commercial ‘white wheat’ bread left. Just out of curiosity, I left it in the bread bin in its own bag. It took till the middle of February to get a spot of mold on it!! I was so disgusted that I have started making my own bread that she now has every day. I bought a ‘pullman loaf’ pan off of Amazon to create the square loaves you see in the store and she loves it. Honey wheat is her favorite and we have to eat it within about four days for freshness. Thanks for the recipe, mine uses butter instead of olive oil. May have to try that next time.

I will have to try your recipe! I am starting to want to venture into makin gour own bread. With the boys in school, we will probably go through a lot of sandwich bread. And the healthier bread isn’t cheap. Do you ever make your bread & freeze it? I’m curious if it turns out ok.

Hi, there! I'm Jill, an herbalist, homeschool mom of four, and disciple of Jesus Christ. Welcome to my herbal home on the web! Here you'll find ways to treat your family at home with natural remedies, as well as how to make herbal medicine in your very own kitchen. Get To Know Me Here!